30-Second Changes That Create Long Lasting Happiness

Sure, we all know that taking a phone call in the middle of good talk with your friend or partner usually gets you both flustered and off-topic. But studies now suggest that the mere presence of a phone (even turned-off phone) can undermine a conversation, write media scholar and M.I.T professor Sherry Turkle in Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age. How? It causes people to engage in lighter conversations about sports and weather—instead of revealing their real thoughts and feeling because they think they are going to be interrupted.